1. Field
The invention relates generally to a method for operating a network processor. In particular. the invention relates to a method for selecting a receive-queue for a packet out of a stream of data packets. The invention relates further to a network processor and a system adapted for a programmable selection of receive-queue based on multiple attributes found in a packet.
2. General Background
Today's computing environments, in particular those of large data centers like cloud computing data centers, require a high level of switching capacities for connecting a large number of server computers with each other. The proliferation of standard servers and the growing usage of virtualization technology increase this need even more.
With the advent of virtualization of network adapters, and the new requirement for deep packet, inspection, a more complete and flexible selection of receive-queues is needed. On one hand, virtualization implies that a receive-queue must be selected in a pool of queues, belonging to a given logical port. On the other hand, deep packet processing calls for a queue selection dependent on information potentially extracted anywhere in the packet including the payload of the data packet.
Therefore. there is a need for a dynamic, flexible, configurable and re-configurable method to handle the selection of receive-queues in network processors.